Seattle daily post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, W.T. [Wash.]) 1881-1888, 1887-03-13
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II = MELkEN.
WHITES Fos nm FosE- urEzzIarxcra
The hospitality Of the Oregon farm
ers i gratefully remembered and de
serves recognition. Ifound the latch
string out with . hearty good vii
wherever went. q willingness 20 i'm
part information even where seemfngI-
against their own individual interests
and q hearty community Of intereS
manifested, which was both gratifyin,
TO the stranger and cOmmendable il
the people.
i did not contend for the mastery il
conversation. for / vent there as 4 stu
dent, an inquirer. The question was
what breed Of cattle % select TO improy,
my dairy. | have very good common
stock web selected dairy. which wish
70 breed 10 thoroughbred stock; shall
it be Jerseys. ShOrthorns, HoIsteins
Devons. AyrshiFes2 What shall il be I
Is the question.
do not find IL an easy question u
answer, after all. What want Is !
general purpose stock; something
that, while good for beef. Is also good
for the dairy; while good for milk, i
also good for butter the steers good
for oxen. Il Is barely possible that /
am expecting too much; that / am
hunting for perfection that Is unat-
tainable.
had seen Mr.. Davis's herd Of Hol-
stems at Mount Vernon, w. T.. before
going 70 Oregon; next visited Mr.. d.
G. Stewards farm. near Forest Grove.
TO hear from the lips Of both Of these
gentlemen OF the excellence Of the
Holsteins; next to the famous herd of
ShorthoFns OF Messrs. Ladd and Reed
on their Broadmead farm near Dilly's
then 10 Mr. T. T.. Mackeldowing's. near
Hillsborough. also a breeder OF Short
horns; then TO Mr.. r. Scott, the dairy
man at Milwaukee. who has a graded
ShorthoFn herd from which be supplies
milk to the Portland people; next 70
the Ladd dairy Of Jerseys, Ayrshires
and Guernseys, near East Portland
and then 70 the Shepherds. at Washou-
gal, who for eight years have supplied
butter 10 the o. K. & n. Co. and who
have the graded Shorthorns.
One thing surprised me, and that
was to find that the Holsteins were a
breed Of larger cattle than the Short
horns. II is so. Mr.. Davis's bull
+" Byron" weighing 2T00 pounds, was
larger than any other animal / saw in
either Washington or Oregon; then
his four-year-old also. I think, was the
largest Again. | believe the Holstein
will make the largest and best work
oxen; having large bone, kind, docile
disposition, compact build, everything,
| should think. 10 make a perfect OK
Then this breed stands at the head of
the list for milk, as 10 quantity OF
this there can be no doubt, as all, or
nearly all. admit il. With 30 many
traits Of excellence, no wonder there
are many enthusiastic admirers Of this
breed.
Nevertheless | have concluded TO
breed To the Shorthorns. | find that
while the thoroughbreds are not milk
ers in the sense that we speak Of dairy
cows. yet the grades are, in a great
majority OF cases, and. when not so,
have almost an equivalent value for
beef. The Shorthorns will make beef
where other breeds. il not posr, are,
20 say the least. bony. Then the steers
are worth much more: and besides il
the dairy viii not pay, beef-raising will.
This stock will, like certain fattening
breeds Of hogs, mature somuch earlier
a. k-a "a n
tor bearing upon this question Of
breeds. | saw a seven-eighths three
year-old steer al SCOTS that girted
eight feet four inches. and he said il
would weigh a ton, and believe il.
have not seen a single dairyman
except Mr.. Scott (who sells milk that
Is willing 10 enlarge his dairy; they
say that the business does not pay.
The veteran dairyman. Mr.. Shepherd,
who used to make q ton OF butter a
month. now makes but tribe, and he
eontemplates going out OF the business
altogether Nevertheless / think il
does pay and will pay. The difficulty
lies in the fact that all i not counted,
and, in not a few instances, not real
lied With proper graded calves. fol-
skim milk is worth and can be made 20
bring not less than 30 cents, and | be-
lieve 90 cents. per hundred pounds for
the milk set IL the smaller sum,
nearly, or. say three cents per gallon.
this amounts in itself to good profit
upon a good-sized dairy "A profit Of
eight cents per pound for every pound
OF butter made, even II the butter sales
only cleared the expenses incurred, To
be sure. this is not like hops At 30 cents
a pound. or even Is cents, but we can
not raise all hops or all raise hops.
Then. after concluding to buy a
Shorthorn. the perpleXity came up
again as to what family OF strain 20
buy into. Like republican America,
the ShOrthorns have aristocratic fam
lilies that have their price. and high
one Il is-ten. fifteen, twenty, and even
forty thousand dollars for a single ami
mai Then comes a question Of color
roam. red. cherry red, and so ON
through the list, each with their cham
pions. Because fancied that color.
bought a cherry red; and because I
wanted il for the dairy, | chose Of the
' milk strain" and because I wanted
a general purpose stock, did not
90 into the most aristocrAtic families,
vet got up to respectable company in
a cherry red bull less than four Year,
old not fat. yet tipping the scales at
over n ton. IL took good many bales
Of hops Ia buy such an animal As he
boasts of his ancestors, but | believe IL
will pay in the long run.
One II the Tacoma dairymen last
week was badly hurt by his bull
Sc hooking him. aud, II he had not
hooked him over the fence. would
have killed him So SAYS our inform
ant. II that was my bull. ! would
saw his horns of close M. even Il il
took the tail with them; but no fear Of
this hurting the animal In fact. he
would become docile under apparent
adversely and fatten, lose his propen-
xitv Ia firht and not transmit this ugiv